Loom picker



G. BRAHS LOOM PICKER Feb. 5, 1935.

Filed March 6, 1934 INVENTOR,

Patented Feb. 5, 1935 v LOOM PICKER;

' George Brahs, Hawthorne, NlJ. I 1 ap l cdtit rr rchfig 1934-;Serial-No; 3114285. 3Claims, (arise-71 60).

A picker for looms, made of rawhide or the like thick material whichwhen soaked in water is responsive to shaping by pressure but which whendry is exceedingly tough, usually-has the 5 following parts whereby atubular head to slide on a guide-rod of the loom and a shank to engagethe shuttle and receive the impact .ofthe pickerstick and be guided in aslot of the shuttlewbox of the loom are formed (see the Wynne PatentNo.1,801,064) A bearing or lin ng, member to-slide on said guide-rod formedfrom'a rectangular blank of said material having its {oppositeextremities extending in the samedirection and spaced from eachc-therand' its mid-portion bent to the contour'of a partial cylinder arectangular interlay of a said material forming at one edge thereofandwith the bentmid-portio-njof said member a-bore and extending from thebore betweenv and beyond said extremities; a single strip ofqsaidmaterial straddling said member and; having its extremities receivingbetween them those of said mem ber and extending beyond the same in facetofacerelationrwith said interlay;- and means, as rivets, bindingtogether all four of said ex- I tremities and also the extremities ofthe strip and the interlay where they exist faceto face, the whole beingmolded under pressureso that the head willexist in conventional partialcylindrical form around the-bore and the shank will be composed of saidextremities and interlay, being perfectly fiat and of uniform thicknessexcept where; the extremities of said member exist and thus (near thehead) give the shank a reinforced thickenedneck. W

This construction hasthese faults: The standard thickness of the shankof a picker is onehalf inch. With-the mentioned interlay. present onlyone ply can form each extremity thereof and the portion of thestrip-which immediately straddles the lining member. Consequently thepart of the picker which immediately includes the head and neck is weak,Since the. lining member is not endless the portion of the strip whichis in the .headhas to, withstand, practically "alone,- these forceswhich are incident to the COCkiIlgfOl skewing of the picker inahorizontal plane o-n'the guide-rod incident to the'action of the pickerstick, wherefore said portion becomes distorted and stretched orenlarged at its ends and ceases to move trulyrectilinearly on theguide-rodfaiod in time it may actually break apart. "Another fault isthat'the neck, where the picker stick imparts its blow, is too weak andsoon becomes distorted and deformed. fAnother fault is that when theparts in' forming. the picker are subj c d to pressure "the mentionedinterim; may or may not remain 'withits mentioned margin truly up to theperimeter Of thecyl-inder of the bore, and if -it does not it allows atthe very outset of the use of the. picker the mentioned skewingtoensue.

According to this'invention I overcome these faults and, in addition,provide, a picker which will be self-lubricating. 1 a

In the drawing, Fig, l'isa pl'anof the picker; Fig. 2, is a sideelevation thereof;

Fig. 3ushowsrthe lining member in sectional perspective; I w

Fig. 4 shows .uFigs, 5 and 6 are plans of the blanks forming thepair; ofstrips 3 and the lining member. For the lining member I use arectangu-lar blank (Fig.6) .of rawhidel having oneedgeportion turnedback-onitselfand forming a flat fold 1a. This is bent aro nd a asuitablecylindrical core or; mandrel (not shQW- so that its mid-portion conformsI tremity and the opposite extremity extend in the same direction;andface to face-r-specifically, with-said edgeport-ion in face to facecontact with said opposite extremity and the bent'midportionforming withthefree-marginof said edge portiona completely cylindrical-bore.

Instead of the, mentioned single strip and interlay I e pl l m na ed r p2 an 9f rawhide each having the form of the blank shown in-Fig, 5 andofsubstantially uniform thickness and which are ;bent around the liningtmember soasto straddle the same and-thus flank atr eachside the flangeor projection of said member formed by itsmentioned extremities-as faras they extend, and then flank: each other, as shown in-Fig, 2. 7 Thus,with thelining member, they form at 4 the head of the picker and wherethey embrace ,said flange and fiankeach other in operative position;

they form therpicker shank, 5, thickened up or reinforced as at the neck5a. At 6 are the rivets which bind the several parts together, somepenetrating all seven plies at and some penetrating the, shank remotefromthe neck. The free'end' of the shank may be thickened up with rawhde,

as at r, inany approved wayso. as toadapt it to withstand impact withthe shuttle which is shown, at min :Fig. 4, I) being. the shuttleboxhaving the slot in which-the shank'of thepicker is guided, dtherodpenetrating the bore of and forming a guide for the picker and e thepicker stick projecting through a hole the picker shank. Onassembling-the'parts, of which the rawhide elements will be firstsoftened by soaking, they are subjected to, pressure to insure inparticular the true cylindrical form of the head n t ene all p rf t yfla rm o the sha with a thickness of one-half inch. Animportant featurehere to befremarked-is-the fact that the e t i 2 s, thicke an th str p.3.

- t1 e, d s r b d construc ion I a able to.

touacylfnderand its foldforming exform the picker with a shank which asto its main portion (outward of the neck and between the same and part:12) is of standard thickness (one-half inch and all of one-half ofwhose thickness is continued into the neck and head of the picker toform the portion thereof which immediately straddles the lining member.Hence said portion is reinforced, or now of double thickness, andtherefore effectually resists any expanding influence exerted by theguide-rod d on the (split) lining and the consequent distortion of thepicker head, especially manifesting itself as an enlargement of theendsof the bore, and the neck is reinforced against the impacts of thepicker stick and the stretching strains incident to the mentionedexpanding influence of the head which naturally, if allowed to distortthe head, reach into theneck of the picker. And it should not beoverlooked that at each side of the mentioned flange of the lining thereare in the neck two plies, of an equal. thickness, of material, so thatin this respect and for resisting suchstrains as might otherwise reachinto the neck both sides of the shank are balanced in point, of strengthas well as weight atthe neck. Moreover, by omitting the interlayandsubstituting a lining member which has the mentioned flange extendingshort of the legs of the laminated strips 2-3, when the pressure isexerted and on applying the rivets there, is a tendency to crowd theflange bodily toward the mentioned mandreL so that when the picker iscompleted the free margin lb of the edge portion 1a of the lining formswith-the bentor curved portion of the latter a completely cylindricalbore, as shown in Fig. 2.

I realize that in the Gordon Patent No. 203,139 a picker is disclosed inwhich one-half of the four plies in the shank are continued into thehead and that in the Kelly Patent No. 397,649 a fold is formed which hasa margin presented to the bore in the head. But the first of these,having its liningmember provided with but a twoply flange, lacks notonly desirable thickness in 3 the neck but that resistance to skewing ofthe picker which is obtained when the lining member has a three-plyflange and the middle ply presents its edge at the bore; andthe secondof these, in which any lining assumed to exist is not an independentmember but is an integral part of a single strip of which the picker iscomposed, has the fault that the neck of the picker at one side has buta single ply outward of the lining to withstand the friction and thosestrains which may reach into the neck as an incident of the tendency ofthe picker to skew.

A factor important in the resistance of the head and neck to the forcesindicated is the circumstance, as shown, that the outer of the layers 23is the thicker. This not onlyincreases the life of the picker as againstthe influence of friction, especially where the shank slides in the slot0, but it greatly exteriorly reinforces the picker as a whole. Besides,since by so much as the layer 2 is the thicker the layer 3 is decreasedin thickness, the latter is the more responsive to the more acutebending which it has to undergo, which is a factor in producing and alsopreserving in the picker that intimacy of'contact between all itscomponent layers which is essential to its solidity, in turn animportant factor in its durability.

The bent portion'ofthe lining is provided, as at 7, with taperingapertures whose greater diameter is at the outside, and these aperturesare filled with graphite 8, or equivalent lubricating substance. Whenthe layers or strips 2-3 are applied lubricant-containing pockets arethus formed which are only open at the inside or at the bore of thepicker, wherefore when the picker slides on the rod d it will beselflubricating and yet the lubricant will not be wastefully drawn outof the pocket by the rod. This feature of my invention applies to anypicker comprising, with a part forming a passaged head (as here thestraddling or rebent portion -of .the strips 23) and the shank, a liningmember having a portion thereof snugly fitting the passage of said partand provided with the defined apertures and a solid lubricant therein. 1Having thus fully described my invention what I claim is: Y

1. A loom pickercomprising a lining member formedfrom a generallyrectangular blank of stiff thick sheet material having one edge portionturned back and the fold thus resulting forming one extremity of themember, said member having said extremity and the opposite extremitythereof 'pro'ject'ing in the same direction with said edge portion inface to facecontact with said opposite extremity and having itsmid-portion bent to the contour of a cylinder and forming with the freemargin of said edge portion a completely cylindrical bore, a pair oflaminated strips of said tough thick sheet material each ofsubstantially uniform thickness straddling said member and having theirextremities receiving between them the extremities of said memberandextending beyond'fthem in face to face relation to each other andforming therewith the picker shank, and securing devices penetrating allfour extremities and also the extremities of the strips where they existface to face with each other. V I r 2. A loom picker comprising a liningmember formed from a generally rectangular blank of stiff thick sheetmaterial having one edge por tion turned back and the ;fold thusresulting forming one extremity of the member, said member having saidextremity and'the opposite extremity thereof projecting in the samedirection with said edge portion in face to face contact with saidoppositeextremityand having its"mid-- portion bent to'the contour of acylinder and forming with the free margin ofsaid edge portion acompletely cylindrical bore, a pair of laminated strips of said toughthick sheet material each of substantially uniform thickness straddlingsaidmember and having their extremities receiving between themthe'extremities of said member and extendingbeyond them in face to facerelation to each other and forming therewith the picker shank, therelatively outer strip being the thicker of the'two strips, and securingdevices penetrating all four extr'emitiesand also the extremities of thestripswhe're they exist face to face with each other; 3. In combination,with the part of a loom picker including a head and a shank, the headhaving a passage therethrough to receive the loom guide-rod, a liningmember having a portion thereof snugly fitting said passage and havinganaperture. penetrating said portion from its said passage to saidlining and closed at its outer end by the head and havinggreater-diameter at its outer end thanat its other end, and amassconsisting wholly of lubricant in solid form filling said aperture.I

- Y GEORGE BRAHS'.

